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University of California San Diego

This past evening, I had the pleasure of joining Smart Girl Politics president /co-founder Stacy Mott and fellow activists Amy Lutz and Elissa Roberson for a discussion on youth issues.

We discussed various techniques of outreach, the importance of tapping into pop culture, and stressed the need to promote family involvement in politics.

You can watch the full video clip below:

Here’s more information about the participants:

Elissa Roberson:

A History major in college, is a contributor for the online blog site TheCollegeConservative.com since its launch in Nov. 2011. Elissa took an interest in politics in high school when she was a Generation Joshua member and became politcally active in college after attending Young America’s Foundation conferences in Santa Barbara, California and Washington D.C. While in college she founded a Young America’s for Freedom chapter as well as helping with numerous other Conservative initiatives to reach out to young voters. You can keep up with her work by following her on Twitter @ElissaRoberson.

Amy Lutz:

(@amylutz4) is a student at Saint Louis University and an Assistant Editor for TheCollegeConservative. She has served as the Chair of the Saint Louis University College Republicans, Vice-Chair of the Missouri College Republicans, a policy intern at the Show-Me Institute, and as an intern at the Dana Loesch Show. YoungFederalist.com

Gabriella Hoffman:

Is a youth activist and blogger. She recently graduated from UC-San Diego with a B.A. in Political Science in June 2012. Hoffman is a frequent guest on radio shows and has been quoted/featured in Fox News, Drudge Report, National Review, POLITICO, and Daily Caller for her thoughts about youth issues from a conservative take. Although a native of the once Golden State of California, Gabriella currently lives in the Commonwealth of Virginia where she works at Morton Blackwell’s Leadership Institute as the Northeast Regional Field Coordinator. When not immersed in politics, Gabriella can be found fishing, shooting, mushroom hunting, traveling, or lounging on the beach. TheGabriellaHoffman.com

The University of California system is living up to its reputation for being home to anti-Semitism.

Earlier this month, several campuses belonging to the University of California system passed legislation in their respective student governments calling for divestment from Israel. Resolutions decrying so-called “human rights violations” in Israel passed at UC-Riverside and UC-San Diego. UC-Irvine passed a similar bill last year in November. In 2010, UC-Berkeley passed a resolution in favor of divestment although it was vetoed by their student body president.

Divestment is a component of the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement by Palestinian activists in an effort to delegitimize the state of Israel. BDS’s goals are to promote the “Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination” by “ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall”, “recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality,” and “respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.”

On the surface, BDS appears to be benign and legitimate. Support for human rights in the Middle East? Why not! What could be wrong with that?

My alma mater – UC-San Diego – was center stage for the Arab-Israeli conflict last week after the Associated Students passed a divestment bill condemning Israel for “so-called human rights violations.” It was passed by a secret vote 20-2. (What every happened to transparency?)

Student government meetings are no place for parsing out the Arab-Israeli conflict, said one recent graduate.

“Universities shouldn’t become center stage for the Arab-Israeli conflict,” said Gabriella Hoffman, a 2012 UCSD graduate, in an email to The Daily Caller News Foundation. She added that passing divestment resolutions gives legitimacy to anti-Semitic viewpoints on campus.

During her time at the university, Hoffman worked to prevent the ASUCSD from approving such resolutions.

“Many pro-Israel and Jewish students and community members–including professors and activists–worked together to ensure that divestment wouldn’t pass,” she wrote. “As a result, they were always rejected.”

Sister campuses UC-Riverside and UC-Irvine also passed divestment bills in their respective student government bodies. Although defeated in previous years, the passage of divestment at the University of California is a very troubling trend in higher education.

As a recent college graduate and newly employed young person, I will see roughly $700-800 of my paycheck going to the government this year. Why should I – someone who maintains a job and contributes to society – surrender so much of my hard-earned money in taxes? Why should anyone with a job be punished with more taxes?

Here are my thoughts from the article:

Gabriella Hoffman’s paycheck is a little lighter today, thanks to a payroll tax increase that is forcing millions of Americans to make the kind of tough budget cuts their representatives in Washington lawmakers seem unwilling to tackle.

Hoffman, a 21-year-old Virginian who works at a nonprofit, estimates her paycheck will be roughly $30 less this biweekly pay period, or about $780 annually, thanks to the end of a two-year cut on payroll taxes, which fund Social Security. The tax has risen back up to 6.2 percent from 4.2 percent, costing someone making $50,000 annually about $1,000 per year and a household with two high-paid workers up to $4,500.

“As a newly-graduated person, someone coming straight out of college, I don’t like the idea of having less money coming to me due to the selfish interests of people in Congress who don’t have any interest in reducing our financial problems,” Hoffman told FoxNews.com. “This is an impediment for future economic growth. It’s going to make it harder for young people like myself to get married, find a better job, you name it.”

Hoffman admits the hike won’t completely alter her spending, but the University of California-San Diego graduate said she will definitely have it in mind when it comes to leisure activities and entertainment.

“Although it’s a small quantity on a monthly basis, just having less money going into my paycheck will prevent me from doing things and force me to be more frugal,” she said. “I’ll be more cautious with my spending.”

“Any tax increase is not good for young people,” she said. “What it does is diminish your hard work and you’re slapped on the wrist. This administration is punishing people who are making money. They don’t like the concept of free enterprise. They think these problems will be solved in Washington by taking away more of people’s incomes.”

UPDATE:

The article was featured as the Drudge Report headline from Friday evening till Saturday afternoon.

From there we shift gears in the second segment to welcome in college seniors Joshua Riddle (Dartmouth) and Gabriella Hoffman (UC-San Diego) to talk about life as conservatives on their college campuses. Joshua is the co-founder of The Young Conservatives website and organization, has played four years of Division I basketball, and is slated to take a job working for the radio talk show host Laura Ingraham this summer.

Gabriella is a social media all-star who works as an editor/contributor at the The College Conservative website and is set to begin an internship with Brent Bozell’s Media Research Center in Washington, D.C., after graduation.

These are two of the sharpest young conservatives around, and we encourage you to follow them both on Twitter. Josh is at @YoungCons, and Gabriella is at @Gabby_Hoffman.

We are Jewish students at UCSD who are deeply dismayed and offended that the following UCSD academic departments and administrative offices were listed as Endorsers and Sponsors of the Muslim Students Association’s “Justice in Palestine Week: 21st Century Apartheid” (See posters here), which took place 5/14 – 5/17:

As in previous years, the MSA’s week of events included numerous speakers and exhibits that demonized Israel through rhetoric and imagery deemed anti-Semitic by the U.S. State Department and promoted efforts to harm the Jewish state through boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaigns.

We feel that these annual events foment hatred and hostility not only towards Israel, but towards Jewish students like ourselves who identify with Israel, causing us to feel uncomfortable and unsafe on our own campus. Moreover, we believe these events violate UCSD’s Principles of Community, which “reject acts of discrimination,” “promote open expression.. within the bounds of courtesy, sensitivity…and respect,” and support a community “where all people can work and learn together in an atmosphere free of abusive or demeaning treatment.”

While we acknowledge the MSA students’ right to freedom of speech, we are outraged and distressed that university departments and administrative offices condone and support such hateful and divisive behavior, which so blatantly violates UCSD’s Principles of Community.

As you may remember, two years ago a delegation of Jewish students met with you and Vice Chancellor Penny Rue to express their distress that so many university departments and administrative offices had endorsed or sponsored the MSA’s “Justice in Palestine Week 2010: End the Apartheid.” Unfortunately, the serious and legitimate concerns which the students raised were not addressed at that meeting, and consequently Jewish students like ourselves continue to feel that faculty and administrative endorsement and sponsorship of anti-Semitic events contribute to a hostile environment for many on our campus.

We are aware that as a result of an investigation by the Department of Justice and the Department of Education into incidents of racist bigotry occurring at UCSD in 2010, the University recently agreed to adopt a comprehensive set of remedial programs and activities directed specifically at addressing racial discrimination and harassment. We believe that nothing less is required for Jewish students, who feel harassed and intimidated not only by the lies, defamation, and anti-Jewish bigotry promoted during the annual “Justice in Palestine” events, but especially by their endorsement and sponsorship by UCSD academic and administrative units.

Therefore, we urge you to do the following:

1) ensure that no University money or endorsement is given to events that are hateful and discriminatory towards a particular group of students or that violate UCSD’s Principles of Community;

2) broaden the scope of the remedial programs and activities outlined in the Resolution Agreement between UCSD, the DOJ, and the DOE to include anti-Semitic discrimination and harassment.

Ron Paul – best known for his die-hard college fans – addressed several thousand students and community members.

Interestingly enough, Ron Paul has a theme song:

Here are some pictures from the event:

Many of you know I do not support a Ron Paul candidacy. For one, Mitt Romney will be the Republican presidential nominee (I will be holding my nose. I’m voting non-Marxist and against Obama). And two – his anti-Israelism, support for drug legalization, and libertine social policies run counter to my views.

Oddly enough, I agree with most of Ron Paul’s economic views. I believe we should do away with the United Nations; Departments of Education, Commerce, Energy; and the EPA – best known as the “Employment Prevention Agency.” I also agree with auditing (and even abolishing) the Fed. I’m opposed to governmental waste and globalist, hypocritical international bodies abusing our tax dollars. If Paul weren’t so hostile to Israel and libertine on social issues, I might reconsider. Alas, I won’t.

The reality is this: Ron Paul will not secure the nomination. If his supporters are determined to defeat Obama, then they must vote for the eventual GOP nominee (I know, it pains me to write this – but we have no other choice but Romney). Please don’t split the vote, guys!

I will concede that Ron Paul knows how to energize a crowd. It still amazes me that he attracts so many people to his events. His young followers worship him like God, which is a tad odd. (Never EVER put a politician on a pedestal.) And he’s quite the sensationalist. That aside, he put on quite the show last night.

Without a doubt, this event will go down in UCSD history. Kudos to the event organizers.